Recycle that old wardrobe -- in more ways than one

The changing of the seasons brings with it a changing of the wardrobe -- that is, unless you live in Boulder, where fall still seems awful similar to summer.

Nevertheless, the weather eventually will get cooler, so if you're ready to clean out that closet and get ready for the deep freeze, here are some ways to make a little extra cash in the process.

How it works

Sell directly: Stores such as Buffalo Exchange and Plato's Closet will buy clothes directly from sellers. At Buffalo Exchange, sellers can receive 30 percent of the price the store will sell the item for in cash, or 50 percent of that price in store credit. Plato's Closet doesn't offer credit, but gives 30 to 40 percent in cash.

Consingment: The other option is to consign clothes, which is when a store like Rag's Consignment or Buffalo Exchange will take a seller's clothing -- usually higher-end items -- and not pay the seller until the item is purchased. But when that happens, the seller gets 50 percent of the sale.

The Buffalo Exchange, 1717 Walnut St., claims to have invented the buying system for clothes that many other vintage and consignment clothing stores use today. It's fairly simple: You bring in your gently used, washed clothing, and they'll give you either cash or store credit in exchange.

"I ideally go in to make money," CU junior Jade Morrison said. "But I usually take the store credit because it's worth more. It's definitely to clean out the closet, though."

Todd Colletti, owner of the Buffalo Exchange locations in Boulder and Denver, said the used-clothing business is a hard one.

"Our employees have to say no to peoples' stuff all day," he said. "We can't buy everything, and the new customers who don't know the system can get offended because clothing is so personal."

Plato's Closet, 2510 Arapahoe Ave., has a similar buying style to Buffalo Exchange, except that it does not offer store credit.

"The whole buying process is kind of an educational process," owner Jon Lietz said. "We try to give customers feedback on things we like, what we're looking for and why we're not buying an item."

According to Lietz, Plato's Closet bought just under 10,000 items from the public in the month of August.

Just as Buffalo Exchange's Colletti said that some people take the rejection of their clothing personally, Lietz noted that most are understanding with the money they get back from selling items.

"It depends on the person," Lietz said. "Some are like, 'Whatever I get is just gravy,' but for some, it's a little hard to take sometimes."

CU senior Brad Wolferden is one of those sellers who had somewhat of a hard time swallowing the money he's been offered for his clothes at local resellers.

"It is kind of a bad average," Wolferden said. "But I don't pay too much for my clothes in the first place."

Consignment stores are a bit different than Plato's or Buffalo Exchange; you don't walk right out with the cash. The seller doesn't get his or her money until the item is purchased.

Most of the time consignment, is better for those higher-priced designer labels that you'd like to get rid of.

Rag's Consignment, 3129 28th St., has been around for quite a while, and has developed its own pricing guides when it comes to consigning customers' items.

Rag's gets a lot of jeans, casual tops, sweaters and basic wearable clothing, according to owner Margaret Miner. The store also has begun to get more and more of the high-end boutique brands.

"We never turn away anything we like," Miner said. "We never fill up. We sell 70 percent of what we take in."

Miner said that many of Rags' 8,000 active consigners are students and that population is growing.

So instead of looking at spring cleaning out your closet as a horrible task, you can do some seasonal "cleansing of the wardrobe" and make some money off of it. No one can promise it will be much, but it'll make room for the new -- and get rid of the old and possibly ugly.

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